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Premier Kathleen Wynne’s top political adviser has resigned as head of the Ontario Liberals’ re-election campaign after being charged for alleged bribery during a 2015 byelection.

As first reported by the Star, Patricia Sorbara, CEO and director of the 2018 Liberal campaign, and party power broker Gerry Lougheed face Elections Act charges related to the Sudbury contest.

“In 2015, I said that if any charges were laid as a result of the investigation, then Patricia Sorbara would, of course, step aside,” a stoney-faced Wynne told reporters Tuesday.

Ontario Provincial Police charged Sorbara, 60, Wynne’s deputy chief of staff until moving to the Liberal campaign last month, with two counts of bribery, and Lougheed, 62, a Sudbury funeral home owner, with one count of bribery.

“This has been a complex and unprecedented investigation for the OPP anti-rackets branch,” OPP Commissioner Vince Hawkes said in a statement.

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Their first court date is set for Nov. 21 in Sudbury.

The stunning development, coming against the backdrop of Nov. 17 byelections in Niagara West—Glanbrook and Ottawa-Vanier, followed 22 months of police investigation.

Tuesday’s charges were a fallback for police and prosecutors who stayed more serious criminal counts of bribery against Lougheed in April and never charged Sorbara under the Criminal Code.

Elections Act charges are in a lower, non-criminal category of violations known as provincial offences, where penalties include fines of up to $25,000 and maximum jail sentences of two years less a day.

In a letter of resignation to Liberal president Vince Borg, Sorbara said she was “shocked by any suggestion that I have done anything wrong.”

“I will defend myself against these allegations to the best of my ability and with the tremendous support that surrounds me. I have served my entire career with integrity and a deep respect for the law. This is very hard for me.”

The Liberals have yet to name a successor to Sorbara, a key architect of the party’s 2014 majority victory.

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Her lawyers, William Trudell and Erin Dann, noted “she was cleared of criminal wrongdoing in this matter long ago and has co-operated fully with this investigation for almost two years.

“These are regulatory‎ offences and stem from legislation that, it appears, is being applied in an unprecedented and extraordinary way,” the Simcoe Chambers lawyers said.

Lougheed’s lawyer insisted his client would be exonerated.

“We are disappointed that the police, having originally charged Gerry criminally, only to have those charges stayed by the Crown, have now laid charges under the Elections Act,” said Michael Lacy of Brauti Thorning Zibarras LLP.

“Gerry has maintained that he didn’t do anything that would attract a culpable finding,” said Lacy.

Wynne downplayed the impact of the charges on the Niagara and Ottawa byelections, saying those contests “are separate and apart from anything else that might go on in terms of these allegations and these charges.”

The charges stem from a campaign in which quadriplegic mortgage broker Andrew Olivier claimed both Sorbara and Lougheed offered him jobs to drop out of the nomination race, clearing the way for the premier’s preferred candidate, Glenn Thibeault.

Thibeault, then a New Democrat MP and now energy minister, jumped from federal politics to defect to the provincial Liberals.

The Elections Act stipulates that “no person shall, directly or indirectly, give, procure or promise or agree to procure an office or employment to induce a person to become a candidate, refrain from becoming a candidate or withdraw his or her candidacy.”

Olivier, who was not available for comment Tuesday, had been the Liberal candidate in the June 2014 provincewide election and one of only two Grits to lose seats held by the Liberals. He fell to the NDP’s Joe Cimino.

When Cimino resigned suddenly five months later, Wynne pounced on the change to win back the riding, passing over Olivier, who ended up running as an independent and finishing third.

The premier has always maintained Sorbara did nothing wrong and any entreaties to Olivier had been intended to keep him involved in politics.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath demanded to know “who is the person who pulled the trigger when it came to asking for this alleged bribe to take place?”

“What role did the premier play?” thundered Horwath, whose party filed the original Elections Act complaint in December 2014.

Progressive Conservatives also asked Wynne if she was involved.

“When did she authorize and when did she know about the offer to Andrew Olivier?” said Tory MPP Steve Clark (Leeds-Grenville).

“The premier may have escaped charges, herself, but her hands aren’t clean.”

Police began probing the possible violations after Olivier, who records conversations on his iPad or smartphone because he cannot take notes, made public the conversations on Facebook.

In one recording, Lougheed said: “The premier wants to talk. They would like to present you options in terms of appointments, jobs, whatever, that you and her and Pat Sorbara could talk about.”

Later, Sorbara told Olivier: “We should have the broader discussion about what is it that you’d be most interested in doing … whether it’s a full-time or part-time job in a (constituency) office, whether it is appointments, supports or commissions …”

In April, the OPP and prosecutors stayed one count of unlawfully influencing or negotiating appointments and another of counselling an offence not committed against Lougheed.

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